• The Social Economy business model promotes equality between men and women, with 48% of contracts for women in their companies and a presence of 58.1% of women in managerial positions.
• The business fabric of the Social Economy offers job opportunities to women with special employability difficulties, with disabilities and other groups at risk of exclusion, as well as women who work in rural areas, especially in the agri-food sector and in the fishermen's guilds.
Madrid, March 8, 2021.- The Spanish Business Confederation of the Social Economy (CEPES) adheres to the commemoration of the UN International Women's Day 2021, and demonstrates its strong commitment to promoting equality and of women's rights, as well as their rejection in the face of any situation of violence or discrimination.
Under the slogan " Women leaders: for an equal future in the world of Covid-19 with a view to the Generation Equality Forum ", this year the international organization wants to celebrate the enormous efforts made by women and girls around the world when it comes to define a more egalitarian future and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, and highlights the shortcomings that persist.
In this sense, CEPES highlights the important role of the Social Economy as a business formula to promote equality between men and women and an example that parity at work can be real.
In fact, the Confederation provides data from the study on ' the socio-economic impact of the values and principles of the Social Economy in Spain ', which compares the behavior of Social Economy companies with respect to other existing business models.
The study indicates that 48% of the contracts made in Social Economy companies are for women. In addition, the presence of women in managerial positions is 58.1%.
Likewise, as the report points out, the Social Economy business model also encourages the reduction of the gender pay gap, since it is “notably” lower than those that exist in other models. Thus, in the Social Economy, women who work full time earn, on average, 6% less than men, while in other business models this percentage is 20% . Given this fact, CEPES assures that it will continue working so that such a wage gap does not exist.
“We cannot forget that, in addition to making parity and equal opportunities between men and women a reality, the behavior of companies and entities of the Social Economy translates into more inclusive economic growth and the reduction of inequalities , which that affects the configuration of their workforce and working conditions ”, points out the director of CEPES, Carmen Comos.
Guadalupe Martín , president of FAEDEI and counselor of CEPES , points out “that the business fabric of the Social Economy offers important job opportunities to women with special employability difficulties, to women at risk and / or a situation of social exclusion and to women with disabilities. For this, the role played by Insertion Companies and Special Employment Centers is fundamental, especially in rural areas. Our organizations seek a more just and equitable society and have specific actions aimed at eliminating inequalities ”.
Patro Contreras, president of COVIRAN and director of CEPES, incide & ldquo; in the fact that gender equality is inherent to cooperativism, since this business model has been a very important means of access to the labor market for a large number of women, many of them entrepreneurs. Cooperatives have been the way to access the world of work for a large number of women, who, moreover, through this model have become entrepreneurs ”.
In addition, the Confederation is firmly committed to equality as a priority value within its development cooperation plans. Thus, in developing countries in Latin America, Morocco or Mauritania they have promoted the establishment of exclusively female work cooperatives, which benefits both the women who work in them and the regions in which they operate, by generating wealth and fabric business in them.
